


Something Borrowed

by err4tic



Category: SHINee
Genre: Easter Egg Hunt, Friends to Lovers, Humor, JongYu established relationship, Kind of a slow burn but not, Light Angst, M/M, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, cameos galore, some implied "stuff"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/err4tic/pseuds/err4tic
Summary: Taemin drags around a reluctant Kibum to a few wedding fairs around the city.
Relationships: Kim Kibum | Key/Lee Taemin
Comments: 30
Kudos: 26
Collections: Summer of SHINee Round 2





	1. First Saturday of That June

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #: 329
> 
> Pairing: Key/Taemin
> 
> Rating: Author's Choice
> 
> Genre: comedy, fluff
> 
> Tropes: Friends to Lovers
> 
> Prompt Summary: Taemin is a little shit and always comes up with the most absurd ideas. Kibum can't fathom why he always lets himself being dragged into them. He keeps wondering when he finds himself taste testing wedding cakes with his supposedly future husband. At least that's how Taemin presents himself when they set foot in the patisserie.
> 
> ***
> 
> “Yeobo! Try this!”
> 
> Kibum was jolted from his pleasant daydreams involving _sleep_ and _quiet_ and _alone_ as Taemin approached him with a saccharine smile and an equally sweet-looking sliver of chocolate cake balanced precariously on a flimsy plastic fork.
> 
> He stared at Taemin hard, trying desperately to communicate his thoughts. _Seriously, Taemin-ah? Aren’t you laying it a bit too thick right now?_
> 
> The gremlin just smiled that crinkly-eyed smile at him, but the militant glint in his eyes was unmistakable. He said nothing but “Ahhhh…” in an attempt to have Kibum open his trap. That glint intensified as the other man mutinously kept his mouth closed.
> 
> Kibum stepped back a bit and said, “Er… my love, don’t you think you’ve been eating too much cake? I don’t want you to crash from all that sugar.” He sent an awkward smile to the dotingly smiling ahjumma manning the nearby booth.
> 
> The way this entire thing had been unfolding all morning, he really should have expected this.
> 
> “Don’t worry, hyung, I intend to work it out on top of you later.”
> 
> Kibum choked on his own tongue.

Saturday. Finally. After a long week of court appearances, meetings with opponents to try to resolve matters in order to avoid litigation in court, drafting, sending out reminders for expiring registrations and proposals to prospective clients, and countless sundry things your friendly neighborhood intellectual property attorney usually deals with on a regular basis, a 12-hour workday is normally too short.

Which is why for Kim Kibum, Saturdays couldn't come fast enough. He loves Saturdays so much, he dreams of them on Mondays. Even on Sundays, when he's preparing his reports for Monday, because even with the amount of overtime he pulls from Monday all the way to Friday, there is always work that never gets finished. 

But he never thinks of them on Saturdays. In fact, he never schedules anything on Saturdays. If he has to hang out with friends, it has to be straight from work on Fridays. Sundays are for family lunches.

Saturdays are "me" days, and are, thus, sacrosanct. 

Which was why he could have killed whoever it was who rang his doorbell that particular Saturday morning at 8 am, when he fully intended to sleep until noon, order kkanpunggi from his favorite Chinese takeaway shop, probably head downstairs to buy a pint of ice cream, and catch up on The World of the Married episodes on Netflix while lazing in bed.

 _Ignore it. Maybe it will go away soon enough if it thinks you're not around._

Yes, it. Anybody who knows him knows that Saturdays are his alone. That— _thing_ _!_ his sleep-deprived mind vehemently supplied—was probably no friend of his. A monster or a devil, most likely.

With that thought, he pulled the covers above his head and was about to drift off when the infernal doorbell started ringing again. What's worse, his mobile phone started ringing in tandem with the doorbell. 

"Damn it!" he groaned out loud. Blindly patting around himself, he managed to find the errant object with his left hand and growled at the phone without looking at the screen, "Speak." 

"Good morning, hyung! Ring me up!" 

Kibum's hand—and consequently, the phone—fell away from his face, and he smothered his scream of annoyance into his pillow.

He wasn’t wrong. 

***

Lee Taemin was the devil’s spawn hiding behind an angel’s face. He knew it and used the knowledge to full effect. Lord knows this wasn’t the first time he had used that shamelessly innocent look to get what he wanted. And what he wanted that Saturday morning was for Kibum to accompany him to a wedding expo.

“What?” Kibum stared at Taemin’s brightly smiling face. Down to the humongous iced americano in his hand. Back to his brightly smiling face.

 _God, it’s too early in the day for this._

“Um. Hi?” he replied with an annoyingly bashful grin, jiggling the coffee in his hand. “Let me in?” With a roll of his eyes, Kibum reluctantly stepped back to allow the younger man to step inside. 

Taemin toeed off his Converse sneakers and walked into Kibum’s living room to sink into his sofa. 

“Hyung, I swear to God, your couch is the best. You know I’m Catholic, so I rarely take the Lord’s name in vain and I never do so lightly. I am going to get one of these once I move out of Jinki-hyung’s apartment.” Like a cat, he rubbed his face against the sea-colored velour throw. The look of delight on his face was just so childlike that Kibum found himself smiling affectionately against his will.

He wiped the smile off his face, swiped the coffee from the low table before it could form a ring of condensate, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Taemin-ah.”

“Hmn?”

“It’s Saturday morning.”

Taemin blinked his eyes guilelessly. “Yes.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah. Right. Sorry.” Taemin sat up from his comfortable stretch on the couch. “I need you to go to a wedding convention with me.”

“A what?”

“Wedding convention. Wedding expo. Whatever you call those. Come with me.”

Kibum sank down on the matching loveseat and sucked rather viciously on the straw. _Huh. Two brown sugars. Nice_. “Why are you going to a wedding convention?”

“Jinki-hyung’s finally getting married!” Taemin replied, his eyes sparkling.

_Wow. Jinki and Jonghyun are finally getting married._

“I should text him and Jjong my congrats. Why are you going?”

“Jonghyunie-hyung has a makeup class today, so he can’t go. He registered online some time ago and paid for the tickets and all.”

With a blank expression on his face, Kibum stared the other man down. “So, why am I going? You could have gone with Taesung.”

Taemin gasped in horror. “Go to a wedding expo with my brother? Ew. No.” 

“Jongin? Moonkyu?” _Why me?_

“Out of town, work thing. Besides, they probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much as you would.”

Kibum was slightly mollified when Taemin answered his unasked question. _Fair point._ “You couldn’t have told me that earlier this week? Or even last night?”

Taemin scratched his head, an amusingly odd mixture of sheepishness and irritation on his face. “I was going to tell you last night, but there aren’t any Type C cables at Jinki-hyung’s apartment. Mine broke. Darn you iPhone users, y’all should be using Korean technology!” He grinned as Kibum tried and failed to curtail a small chuckle, took out something from his bag, and continued, “I only managed to charge my phone when I picked up these cards from Jonghyun-hyung’s place earlier.”

Kibum spared the stack of Jonghyun's business cards a cursory glance and brought his stare back to Taemin. The younger man’s innocent gaze never wavered and even softened into a pleading expression. “Please, Kibummie-hyung. Jinki-hyung and Jonghyunnie-hyung asked me if I could scope out potential suppliers because they really don’t have time to do so, and these things are usually scheduled in June. You know, wedding month. You’re the only one I could ask.”

With that, Kibum bid his quiet, idyllic Saturday goodbye. It takes an unusually strong person to resist those pleading eyes, and he has never claimed to be one, not where Taemin is concerned. “Fine. I’ll go.”

The sight of those bunched-up mochi cheeks as Taemin delightedly grinned back at him almost made the sacrifice worth it. Almost.

“I promise, hyung, we’ll have fun.”

“Shut up. Let me go and get changed.”

***

"Hyung, would you like to make today more interesting?"

Kibum looked at Taemin suspiciously. "Depends on what you mean by interesting this time." 

Taemin's idea of interesting was, well, interesting (to put it quite mildly). That may mean anything like daring Kibum to sneak alcohol into a fast food restaurant that serves bottomless self-serve drinks at 2 am in the morning, enlisting his help in switching out the contents of Jinki's maple syrup dispenser into fish sauce syrup (which tasted surprisingly okay, come to think of it, but not on top of pancakes), or letting Taemin drift his car in the middle of nowhere with him on the passenger seat. The outcomes? Rarely as fun as they were in theory (Jinki + glazed fried chicken = all is right in the world).

Kibum wasn't Taemin's sole comrade in these little flights of fancies of his… but for some reason, he was always the one at hand when Taemin needed bailing out— in more ways than one. God knows why he still humored him. 

_You're weak, Kim Kibum_. Boy, didn't he know it.

Taemin shook the pamphlet that they were handed during registration at the front desk in his face. "Let's join this game."

Kibum looked at his own pamphlet. Couple games. He clears his throat. "Taemin, we're not even a couple."

"No, no! Jjongie-hyung told me that most of these are just trivia questions, to show how well the couples know each other. We've been friends for a long time, so this will be easy. Besides, have you seen the prize? A weekend stay at a guesthouse in Gapyeong!"

Kibum wasn't really sure about this. "I'll think about it."

Taemin grinned, knowing that he had it (Kibum) in the bag. He hooked an arm around Kibum's narrow waist, startling the slightly taller man.

"Taemin-ah! What are you doing?" Kibum whispered harshly. 

"Acting like a devoted fiancé. We need to do it to get in the spirit of it." He flashed Kibum a little close-eyed kissy face with his naturally pouty lips in a pucker and then laughingly danced out of reach as Kibum attempted to slap his arm. 

The convention hall looked like it exploded in flowers, with various flower shops all around Seoul gathered under one roof to showcase their blooms in the hopes of landing prospective clients. Kibum could tell that most of them were not big names in the industry, considering how he didn't recognize most of the brands—even so, he found himself in awe of the mad clash of different blooms and arrangements that somehow managed to be aesthetically pleasing to him.

On top of the decorations, the fair hosted a dizzying array of concessionaires—chain hotels with photo exhibits of how their halls are kitted out in wedding garb, travel agencies offering different packages to dream honeymoon destinations, photography and videography studios with lookbooks and presentations of their best work… Again, most of the participants for the wedding fair were mostly small houses trying to make their names known. 

Kibum found himself immediately gravitating toward the mannequins, challenging himself to recognize which designers, local or foreign, strongly influenced the cuts and lines of the different gowns and tuxes on display and marveling at the intricacy of some of the traditional wedding ensembles. Before he could venture closer to that side of the hall, Taemin already had his arm held captive as he pulled him toward the food booths. 

“Jinki-hyung told me that he and Jonghyunie-hyung already went to one of these things before… in February, I think? Jinki-hyung nearly cried while he was describing the food they had then.” Taemin’s large eyes positively gleamed with excitement. “I actually only came here for the food.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be canvassing? Jonghyun or Jinki must have given you a list of what to look for.”

Taemin’s quick look of confusion his way confirmed to Kibum that they, in fact, did no such thing. Kibum was curious—it wasn't Taemin's fault that the lovebirds forgot to give him anything, so why did the puzzled look morph for a split second into guilt?

“So this is why you roped me into coming with you.”

Taemin said nothing and only looked at him with tremulous, puppy dog eyes, and Kibum felt that look chip at his annoyance. The poor kid was so damn clueless.

Kibum exhaled loudly through his nose. “Fine, give me some of Jjong’s business cards. I’ll walk around and hand it out to the more interesting ones.” 

Taemin flashed him a grateful grin, which disappeared in the next moment as he tugged at his arm again. “Wait, don’t you want to eat first? I mean, you had nothing all morning but that coffee.”

Kibum noted the mild concern in Taemin’s eyes and couldn’t resist ruffling the younger man’s longish black hair a little. “Aw, is Taeminnie worried about hyung? Okay, lead the way. We’ll be all business after eating, okay?” He found it almost comical how Taemin’s eyes went from bug-eyed large to veritable crescents in his glee. 

*** 

True enough, Taemin never strayed far from the food booths, while Kibum went around collecting brochures and contact numbers of tailors, flower shops, printers, and wedding halls. 

Seriously, Jinki or Jjong should have just asked him to do this in the first place, but then they probably didn't feel totally comfortable considering how Jinki used to date Kibum back when they were really (and that meant REALLY) young. It's not like they didn't see other people after that or their breakup had been particularly traumatic. (Although he managed to inherit Taemin during the fallout, so that may be debatable where Kibum's concerned.)

After a while, he got tired of supplying vague answers to questions of where his partner was and other surprisingly invasive questions. The thought of selling his own firm's services didn't even occur to him, and he wanted nothing more than to finally go home and soak in his tub with a nice Lush bath bomb. Or at least get off his feet in the interim. 

_Yes. Bath: good. I should also break out that pinot from that dispute client...and ice cream… God, that sounds positively divine..._

“Yeobo! Try this!”

Kibum was jolted from his pleasant daydreams involving _sleep_ and _quiet_ and _alone_ as Taemin approached him with a saccharine smile and an equally sweet-looking sliver of chocolate cake balanced precariously on a flimsy plastic fork. 

He stared at Taemin hard, trying desperately to communicate his thoughts. _Seriously, Taemin-ah? Aren’t you laying it a bit too thick right now?_

The gremlin just smiled that crinkly-eyed smile at him, but the militant glint in his eyes was unmistakable. He said nothing but “Ahhhh…” in an attempt to have Kibum open his trap. That glint intensified as the other man mutinously kept his mouth closed.

Just earlier, Taemin had been munching on a cream puff from one stall's croquembouche. Before that, on mujigae-tteok from another stall offering traditional Korean wedding fare. He had split a slice of rum date cake with Kibum from the first stall they approached. Who knew how much he had been snacking on while Kibum's back was turned. 

Kibum stepped back a bit and said, “Er…jagi, don’t you think you’ve been eating too much cake? I don’t want you to crash from all that sugar.” He sent an awkward smile to the dotingly smiling ahjumma manning the nearby booth. 

The way this entire thing had been unfolding all morning, he really should have expected this. 

“Don’t worry, hyung, I intend to work it out on top of you later.”

Kibum choked on his own tongue. 

Taemin's sultry gaze immediately disappeared, and he burst out into his hiccupy laughter. "Hyung! You should have seen your face!" He proceeded to snort for about a full five minutes before he finally calmed down. In contrast, Kibum's face was frozen.

The cake was surprisingly not dislodged by Taemin's ruckus. Suddenly remembering it, he shoved the fork into his mouth and moaned around it. "Dear God, this is so good!"

Kibum stared at him unblinking. "I thought that was for me." 

Taemin shot him a teasing grin. "You were too slow. Sorry." 

Kibum really didn't expect what would happen next. 

"That's okay." Before he knew it, he reached out and pulled Taemin's grinning face closer, swiped at the little blob of chocolate frosting from the corner of his mouth, then licked it off his thumb. Taemin's grin disappeared. 

"Hmm. Chocolate hazelnut. Not bad." He really didn't know he was able to affect that nonchalance when he was feeling anything but. He turned to chat with the kind-looking ahjumma, trying to look unaffacted by Taemin's momentary slack-jawed look of stupefaction.

Even so, he couldn't explain the thrill of satisfaction that he felt at one-upping Lee Taemin. 

That slight display of cheek by Kibum seemed to have unleashed a different sort of monster in Taemin. He turned the flirtation up a few notches, practically draped over Kibum's arm the entire time Kibum was trying to cover the rest of the suppliers he hadn't checked out yet, shamelessly pulling him all over the place and charming the stall owners to give him extra samples of their choice morsels, which he then proceeded to feed to Kibum from his own hand.

However, he himself had already reached his skinship quota with that thumb stunt, so he didn’t initiate any. Not that he fended off any of Taemin’s small touches…it’s been a while since somebody touched him like this. It was all window-dressing, Kibum knew, but it felt nice. 

After trading his Saturday for this, Kibum finally made peace with himself for letting Lee Taemin pamper him for once.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Kibum remarked at one point as Taemin skipped over to him to hand him another freebie from one of the booths. 

Taemin’s eyes sparkled as he replied, “Hell, yeah! Free food, free stuff, and I get to play with my favorite hyung. What’s not to like?”

“Yah, I’ll tell Jinki on you!” Kibum scolded in a mock-threatening voice as he told himself not to blush. Even so, he found himself grinning as Taemin danced away again to another booth as Kibum followed him at a more sedate pace, thinking how he could see Taemin’s cheek bunched up even with his back turned toward him.

_Yeah. This is nice._

***

Finally, the couples who registered for the games were summoned to the stage at the far end of the convention hall. Kibum heard the MC call Jjong’s name but pretended not to. He ended up getting dragged by Taemin to the stage.

There were no less than 15 participants, and every couple looked competitive. Kibum was scared, and he said so.

“We’re going to lose and lose face at the same time,” he whispered despairingly at Taemin, who appeared to be having too much fun scoping out the competition. Kibum knew that these games would be of the extremely cheesy sort, and he was not looking forward to them.

Taemin puckered his full lips to indicate a couple somewhere to Kibum’s right. “Look at couple number 7. I’ll bet you a manwon that they’d pitch a fight if they lose.”

“Shh. Be nice.” But Kibum surreptitiously looked at the couple and silently agreed with Taemin.

“Let’s make this more interesting, Hyung.”  
  
Kibum shot Taemin his most done look. 

“Haha! No, no, you don’t have to do anything else, promise. A bet. Loser pays the winner a forfeit.” Kibum’s expression did not change.

“I’ll bet you that we will win these games—”

Kibum suddenly grinned. “Okay, you’re on.”

“—but you can’t sabotage the games. If you do, you automatically forfeit.”

“What? You’re making it sound like my chances of winning are nil. If we win, I lose. If we lose, I lose. Besides, who will be judging whether I’m rigging the gameplay or not?”

Taemin flashed him a shit-eating grin and pointed toward himself. “You know that games are my lifeblood.”

“That’s not even the same thing!”

Taemin held up both palms toward him in a placating manner. “Okay, okay. To even it out, I promise that if we win, I’ll make it worth your while. If you win, you can be as selfish as you want when you collect. What do you think?”

Kibum really wanted to say no, but Taemin seemed to really, really want to win that prize. “Why do you want to win so badly, anyway?”

Taemin didn’t even have to think about his answer. “I want to give the trip to the hyungs as a wedding gift.”

Shit. How could he say no to that?

The MC announced three rounds, with the games for each round only to be revealed after the previous round was over. Couples failing to perform beyond a certain threshold would be dropped from the competition. Special gift packs would be given to the winners of each round, and then the scores would be added up to determine the final winner.

The first game was the newspaper dance. Couples who failed after the fourth fold would be eliminated. The group of 20 pairs was whittled down to 9. Kibum and Taemin breezed through it easily enough, since both of them could actually dance and lift, but they didn’t get the top prize because they lost to actual ballet dancers.

Then, the second game was announced. 

Taemin’s eyes looked both guilty and pleading. Kibum’s glare promised retribution. 

The MC walked over to them and held out an opened box of matcha Pepero. 

***

In the end, they lost to the first place couple (not the ballet folks) because they had one less correct answer in the final round—Kibum thought that Taemin's idea of a perfect time for a wedding was during sunset. Taemin wrote down sunrise. When asked by the MC for the reason, Taemin answered simply, "Don't you think it's more romantic for a couple to start their wedding day actually being married already?" 

Kibum, who had always had a thing for sunset weddings, found himself rethinking stuff. 

The MC turned to Kibum and said, "Kim-sshi, with the way you pay attention to Lee-sshi, which I would guess is the way you look at him all the time, I'm surprised that you got this question wrong." Then, the man turned to the audience and said, "Everyone? You might want to discuss these things some more before getting married, yes?" 

As they stepped off the stage, Kibum muttered to Taemin, his eyes averted, "That MC is annoying." His face was still burning at the mortifying ordeal of being caught staring.

To Kibum's surprise, Taemin stepped squarely in his line of vision and then suddenly poked the spot on his left cheek where his dimple was. "Cheer up, Kibummie-hyung, did you think we'd even get second place when the game started?" His grin was so irrepressible that, against his will, one corner of Kibum's mouth quirked up. 

"How did you even know all of those things, Lee Taemin? Have you been spying on me?"

Taemin shrugged. "You've mentioned them before. I just remembered."

"What? When?"

"I don't know. I don't remember. But I did tell you it would have been easy for us to win." 

Even Kibum was surprised at himself. He didn't think deduction and pure luck would work, but he managed to answer most questions about Taemin through them. 

Taemin looked into Kibum's eyes and said earnestly, "For two people who aren't even together, don't you think our performance counts as a win?" Taemin dangled the Pepero gift pack in front of his face.

Finally, Kibum's dimples made their appearance. "Yeah. To be fair, we did pretty well." 

He almost jumped when Taemin punched his fist up into the air with something that sounded like a victory war cry.

Kibum gaped at him. _It couldn't be…_

"No. Lee Taemin, that's not…"

"You agreed that it was a win."

"That's not what we agreed upon!!"

"A win is a win is a win." Taemin danced around him crowing. 

"YAH!"

***

The next Friday night, while Kibum was out to dinner with his colleagues, Taemin called him up to tell him how he wanted to collect his spoils.

"Hyung, may I borrow your Saturday again?"

"What? Again? Why? I'll just treat you to dinner. Give you that cardigan in my closet that you've had an eye on since forever. Cook for you for the next four Sunday nights. Let me sleep in on a Saturday, for once!" 

Kibum may be protesting too much, but he must admit that he was curious about the next fair.

"Perfect," he replied cheerfully. "The event doesn't start until 2 PM, anyway. You can wake up at noon, if that's what you want."

"Taemin-ah…" 

"Please, Kibummie-hyung? I know it's getting old, but Jonghyun-hyung has a comprehensive exam on Monday."

"..."

"You promised, hyung."

Ouch. So he did. 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set in an AU where same-sex marriage is legal in South Korea, and homophobia and COVID-19 don't exist.


	2. Second Saturday of That June  <part 1>

"So… the wedding fair is being held here, and you didn't tell me?" Kibum was torn between throttling the younger man and hugging the life out of him.

"Um… surprise?" Taemin said with a sunny grin and without the slightest hint of guilt as he parked the car at one of the designated guest parking slots of The Shilla Seoul. _Holy shit, The Shilla NEVER holds wedding fairs._ Kibum's head was reeling. _Jonghyun voluntarily missed this. What was he thinking?_

"Lee Taemin, you… what in the world are you wearing?" Kibum gasped out in horror as he belatedly realized how severely underdressed the other man was, decked in an (admittedly) artfully shredded heather gray jumper and skinny black denim jeans. Thank goodness for the narrow black Chelsea boots —Kibum would have wept in despair if he had been wearing the Chuck Taylor’s. . 

"It will be fine. Kpop stars dress down to these places all the time, and I never see anybody getting kicked out for being underdressed."

Still, they were normal folks, so Kibum doesn't exactly share Taemin's optimism that the staff would be as forgiving towards them. 

"Taemin-ah, don't bring your backpack."

"But…"

"Just trust me, okay?"

Kibum didn't feel like changing bags before going out earlier, so he just took out paperwork from the black Saint Laurent satchel (one of his more exorbitant, self-indulgent purchases in the last five years) he used for work that week before leaving the house. "Give me all of the stuff that you have to bring."

As it turned out, Taemin really didn't need to bring much. Kibum looked on in amusement as he was handed a wallet, a tube of lip balm, his phone, Jonghyun's cards, and a tube of his favorite mint candies. Kibum chucked everything into his own bag and then removed his slim-line black blazer with a bejewelled brooch.  _ This should dress him up enough.  _

Who knew his propensity for dressing up in layers would be a lifesaver? Kibum was left in an untucked gray, light-knit sleeveless cardigan with a colorful mismatched striped ribbing that revealed his blue and white striped dress shirt underneath. 

"Are you wearing a belt under that?"

Taemin nodded. "Just black with a metal buckle."

"Let's switch." Kibum quickly removed his simple Gucci buckle belt and said,"Tuck in your jumper."

Kibum averted his eyes and slid on the slim—surprisingly elegant—black belt (which would be hidden by his dress shirt, anyway) as he heard a hiss of a zipper sliding down. It was getting a bit hot inside the close quarters of Taemin's sedan, so Kibum snatched his bag up and escaped with a choked out, "I'll wait for you outside."

When Taemin stepped out of the car, Kibum could finally see the full effect of his edited ensemble. Taemin swept an arm down his person and asked in an uncharacteristically subdued voice, "Well?"

Taemin's slim legs looked impossibly long in the black jeans that blended into the narrow boots. Instead of making him look scrawny, the cut of the black blazer emphasized the breadth of his shoulders, which tapered to a narrow waist emphasized by the belt.

On second thought, the hotel staff would probably think that Taemin's an idol and let him in anyway. 

"You'll do," Kibum commented in a brusque voice, as if he hadn't been mindfully telling himself for the last few minutes to stop staring.

"Hyung… should we pretend to be together?" 

_ He probably meant pretend to be Jinki and Jjong. What are we going to do when the event staff asks for identification? Why am I this nervous all of a sudden? _

Kibum eye's met Taemin's, and there was an odd moment when all sound around him became muted, and his vision became tunnel-like that excluded everything but Taemin. He shook his head vehemently to clear it.

Against his better judgement, he reached up to finger-tousle his black hair into some style. Without any product, it ended up flopping back to its usual part. Maybe once they find a men's room, they could use some water and hand lotion to rearrange his hair and make it hold. 

"I don't know, Taemin-ah. Let's just play it by ear."

***

As it turned out, they didn't have to pretend to be Jinki and Jonghyun because the tickets had been transferred to their names, or so the guest list showed. Kibum started to breathe a bit easier. 

Unlike the first wedding fair that they attended, the event at the hotel was a smaller, more muted, yet no less grand affair. The Grand Ballroom's largest section was dressed in full wedding regalia, with the hotel breaking out their finest crystal and china and best linenware to grace the circular tables that were near creaking under the heavy load of profuse blooms in massive vases. Grecian columns with climbing vines lined the U-shaped runway, with the head of the runway illuminated by a glittering chandelier that must weigh a ton.

Kibum was entranced as he all but stood on tiptoe to catch a glimpse whenever one of the staff slipped out from the inner hall. They didn't proceed immediately to the main hall as the first part of the fair was in the anteroom, which housed several booths showcasing jewelry, an exclusive wedding boutique, two haberdasheries, wedding registries for major malls, and impossibly delicate handcrafted stationery. The elegantly attired guests milled about munching on appetizers from the long table spread with crudités and charcuterie and sipping on champagne as they flitted from one booth or the other. Evidently, the target market for this event was the crème de la crème of Seoul—or, at least, the most loaded. 

_ How in the world did Jjong score tickets? _ And then,  _ Is he crazy? How could he pass this up? _

The refined din of the hundred or so early birds making their rounds and socializing dwindled into something a little louder than a hush as the two of them passed through the registration to the fair proper. Murmurs of "who?", "must be a rookie celebrity," and the likes drifted to Kibum's ears, and the sudden concentrated regard made him feel like a bug under a microscope. Kibum looked at Taemin from the corner of his eye. He was suddenly suffused with a vaguely parental pride as Taemin sauntered forward easily, looking more like a model than the geeky game app developer that he was. Kibum had rarely had the opportunity to observe Taemin out of his element, and it was fascinating to see how he still managed to shine. 

Kibum took a deep breath and snagged a champagne flute from a passing server.  _ It’s show time. _ Then, professional smile in place, he walked over to the nearest booth, a printer shop. Even so, he kept an eye out for Taemin the entire time.

A conversation that started from describing the merits of using certain types of paper for wedding invitations morphed into an unexpectedly animated discussion of Korean patent law when the effusive, petite owner, Kwon Boah, mentioned that the handmade paper that she used in her invitations was produced utilizing an unconventional process designed by her inventor husband. Kibum found himself smiling more genuinely as he reached into his bag to hand her his personal business card and extracted a promise from the businesswoman to have her husband call him the following Monday.

He was about to say his farewells to the printer in order to head to his next booth when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Whirling around, he saw celebrity Taemin sporting a distinctly baby Taeminnie expression of pleading on his face and extending  a palm toward him.    


“Ah, wait.” Kibum rummaged through his bag and handed him a stack of Jonghyun’s cards inside a slim card holder. He placed the leftover cards from last week in one of his spares, as was only proper, and brought another spare in his bag just in case.

“Thanks, hyung,” Taemin said as he accepted the card holder with a smile that was more visible in his eyes than his lips. Kibum looked at his retreating back as Taemin headed toward one of the other booths, and then turned back to Boah-sshi’s beaming face.

“You guys are adorable. How soon is the wedding? I’m sure you two would hate a long wait.”

Kibum’s eyes widened, and he violently shook his head, crossing his arms in an X in front of his chest. “No, please don’t misunderstand. I’m actually doing this for my friends. They’re the ones getting married.” He dug into his bag and pulled out one of Jonghyun’s cards. “These are the contact details of one of the grooms. Please send him detailed information so he could check them out, and I’ll definitely put in a good word.”

“I see… I will do that, and much appreciated.” The smile on her face now held a puzzled quality.

Kibum didn’t know what pushed him to say, “We’re just friends —him and I.” 

The woman smiled kindly. “I think it’s nice to have such a deep kind of friendship, don’t you? Nurture it well.”

Kibum laughed in response, but it sounded hollow to his own ears. “Ahahaha, I’ll do my best, Boah-sshi. And I’ll be expecting a call from Jung Yunho-sshi on Monday, okay?”   
  
***

Kibum went to join Taemin in front of one of the jewelry booths. There were several people alongside him checking out the displays… and him.   
  
Taemin had a couple of pairs of earrings in front of him, and he was carefully perusing a pair of violet solitaire studs in his hand. Kibum could see some of the women paying more attention to Taemin than on the display in front of them. 

“That is an excellent choice, sir,” the attendant said encouragingly. “Those square-cut amethyst solitaire earrings would definitely make any woman happy—”

“I’m thinking of buying it for myself, actually… and for my boyfriend.” 

“Of course.” The woman’s smile faltered imperceptibly and then returned with renewed force as her eyes fell on Kibum behind him. “Don’t you want to view our couple rings for men…”

“That’s okay, I only wanted to see these,” he said, gesturing at the earrings before him.

Kibum was standing a few steps behind Taemin to his right, looking around at the growing crowd. They were no longer subjected to the sort of scrutiny that they were before, what with the arrival of several celebrities, but he could see men and women doing double takes when they passed by Taemin.  _ Completely understandable _ . 

At the mention of a boyfriend, Kibum’s wandering eyes snapped back to Taemin. 

_Okay, was that hypothetical, or does Taemin have a boyfriend? I mean, if he did, shouldn’t he be dragging him around to these things, not me? Long-distance relationship, perhaps? Do Jongin and the others know? Dear God, is it one of them? Why didn’t he tell me?_ _Why do I—_

“Hyung?”

Taemin’s voice suddenly pulled Kibum away from his tiny—miniscule, barely even counted as a—meltdown. 

“Kibummie-hyung?”

“Ah, sorry, Taemin-ah. I just had a sudden thought about the amount of work I have to face on Monday. I need a drink. Champagne?” He swiped another two flutes and handed one to Taemin, who sipped on it gratefully. 

They walked in companionable silence toward the long table bearing the appetizers, and then Kibum asked, “So, why didn’t you buy the amethyst earrings? You seemed to really like them.”

“The violet ones? Nah, I’m broke. It was a lovely pair, though.” He heaved a mournful sigh. 

Kibum could have kicked himself when he asked, “But you have someone you want to give them to?”

Taemin looked at his feet and shook his head. His black bangs hid his eyes, but a small smile played on his lips. “Not right now. But hey, at least I now have an idea of what I want to give him if the time comes.”

_ Does that mean him as in a general sense or him as in the person he likes right now? So, he does have someone that he likes? _

_ Shut up, Kibum. Stop thinking about it. _

Silence. Then, Kibum’s curiosity got the better of him. “Why don’t you like couple rings?”

“Ah.” He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his face. “Plenty of reasons, actually. First of all, you know I always lose my stuff—” 

With a grin of recollection, Kibum nodded in agreement. “Yep. Magic Hands.”

‘Yeah. And I like rings, but I use them a lot to fiddle. I’m 99% sure that I would lose a couple ring that way.”

“Hm. That makes sense.” Kibum bit on a breadstick.

Taemin plucked a wafer stick from a tall glass. “Reason number 2: no resizing. Personally, when I give someone a gift, my favorite part is when I see the recipient excitedly using the gift as soon as it gets unwrapped. Not like I want something in return when I give, but what sort of giver would want to receive a frown for their efforts? It’s like a validation that the thought that went into choosing the gift didn’t go unacknowledged. Call it a giver’s perk, if you will. Imagine missing out on that joy because you ended up buying the wrong size. Both of us would have to wait until the ring gets resized before he could wear it. Boo-hoo.”

Kibum’s laughing response held an undertone of amazement. "The pragmatic romantic. What do you know. What if the recipient had unpierced ears?”

Taemin was silent for a moment, then he answered carefully, “By the time I’m ready to give him the other half of the pair, of course I would have already known if he’s against body modification of any sort. If he weren’t comfortable with it, I’d respect his preferences and keep the studs for myself. If he’s cool with it… Isn’t ear piercing under those circumstances sort of symbolic, too? You choose to change yourself, even in a little way, so you could let someone in. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t tattoos created with someone important in mind kind of the same?”

He took a deep, bracing breath and then continued in a more impassioned tone, “It’s weird how people say that you shouldn’t ever change when you’re in a relationship—of course you have to adjust, because it’s no longer just about yourself, you have to accommodate another person into your life. Heck, it’s true for any relationship, not just romantic ones.”

_ Lee Taemin, who are you? _

Before he could respond to Taemin’s monologue, Kibum felt a light tap on his shoulder. From somewhere behind them, a voice said, “Excuse me…”

***


	3. Second Saturday of that June <part 2>

Kibum and Taemin turned toward the newcomer at the same time. The tall man, taller than either of them by at least three inches, had to be the most ridiculously good-looking man Kibum had ever met. His thick eyebrows, deep-set eyes, high nose, and oddly circular lips were perfectly set in what should have been a comically small face... In combination with that height and that lean, muscular physique…

“Hi, I’m Choi Minho. I know what this may sound creepy, but I really am hoping that you two are models. Are you?”

Kibum snapped out his trance, and he was about to brush off what he thought was flattery when he saw Taemin staring up at the man with a frown on his face and an air of inexplicable hostility. 

Kibum smiled up at Choi Minho and replied, “I’m afraid not. He’s a game developer. I’m an intellectual property attorney.”

“Oh, wow. Okay. So... this may be a stretch, but would you like to be, just for today?”

“Huh?” Kibum’s mind, which had just been blown by Taemin’s unexpected views earlier and then this Choi dude’s male beauty just now, was having trouble loading. 

Choi Minho handed him a white card bearing the words “Forever Young” and Choi Sooyoung underneath.

“My sister’s.”   
  
Kibum was familiar with Forever Young. There was a particularly nasty dispute involving the young brand and another company who wanted to pass off their new skincare brand as affiliated products of the rising Korean fashion house. Choi Sooyoung managed to win that dispute with the help of Kibum’s old boss. In fact, their firm still handled Forever Young's IP portfolio.

Really, how many times would this day leave Kibum gaping like a fish?

“Wow,” he said as intelligently as he could. Not his finest hour, obviously.

“Why are you asking?” Taemin asked curtly. Must be hypoglycemia—they only had a few minutes before they had to proceed inside the wedding hall, and he must be feeling hungry.

Choi Minho seemed to have decided that it’s easier to talk with Kibum. He turned toward Kibum and said with a touch of urgency, “May I speak with both of you outside, where it’s a bit more private?”

Taemin was still glaring balefully at the man. Kibum tugged at his blazer, sending the younger man an unspoken plea to stop. 

After a few seconds of looking into Kibum’s eyes, Taemin exhaled in a huff. “Lead the way.“

The three of them only stepped out to the hallway. Taemin crossed his arms in front of his chest and said belligerently, “Well?”

KIbum gave him a side glance. 

“Ok. We’re actually in a bind right now. We have a fashion show for the wedding fair in a little more than an hour, and two of our male models had to be taken to the hospital just now for severe allergies. We already have all hands on deck at this point, and we can’t have the other models walk in their ensembles.”

“Why us, then?”

“We weren’t expecting anything to come out of it, but my sister asked me to look for a couple of male models in the fair. The model agency we work with was already fully booked, and there’s no time to reach out to the others. I didn't think I'd be lucky enough to find actual models when I headed to the fair, and then I saw a couple who looked the part...and here we are.”

Kibum choked, just a little bit. “But we’re not…” 

“Ok. We’ll do it.” Taemin suddenly spoke up almost at the same time.

Kibum’s neck almost snapped with how fast his head swiveled to stare at Taemin. “What are you doing?” he mouthed at him. Taemin just stared at him, his lips forming a slight, mutinous pout.

“Can we…”

Minho’s sigh of relief was audible. “Oh, thank God. Great! I've noticed that you both move quite well, so I think that walking wouldn’t be a problem. Let’s go backstage and have Sooyoung-noona discuss the details with you while you get hair and makeup done.”

Kibum and Taemin silently followed Minho further down the hall to a side door leading to Dynasty Hall’s backstage. The flurry of activity inside with models in various states of undress, make-up artists, and assistants made Kibum's head pound. 

They approached a tall woman resplendently dressed in a striking black gown with a skirt beruffled within an inch of its life, but so artistically that it still managed to look elegant despite the busy detailing.  _ Unbelievable, but the woman was no less stunning than her brother, it’s not fair, _ Kibum thought as a relieved smile bloomed in her harried-looking face as she looked over Minho's shoulder to the two of them. 

"Oh, God, finally! Yibo-yah called and said that Zhan-sshi is doing fine, just woozy. I was thinking of cutting their segments, but the final pieces..." She squeezed Minho in a quick hug and stepped around him to greet the two of them, yelling over her shoulder, "Sora! Stop trying to call Madame and bring Yibo's and Zhan's clothes over there." 

"I WILL chat with you later. I'm Choi Sooyoung, but just call me Sooyoung-sshi. I am so glad that you're in attendance, and I can never thank you enough for doing this." She ran a critical eye down the both of them and said, "God, you two are beautiful. You have to give me your agency's details later. Please follow me." She led them to an unoccupied long table where a petite woman was busily setting up make up paraphernalia on the table and another was pulling a rack of menswear. Sooyoung murmured, "You can place your stuff here. Please excuse me," and then proceeded to talk to herself as she pulled out a measuring tape from the gown's pockets—Kibum's eyes bugged out at the fact, and he exchanged looks with Taemin. After a second, Kibum stripped off the cardigan and placed it on an airport tray beside his bag. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Taemin shrug off the blazer and begin to remove his rings. Kibum held out his hand, and Taemin placed the rings and several leather thong bracelets on his palm. Taemin placed the blazer on top of Kibum's cardigan. 

Looking at them critically, she said to Taemin, "Yibo's torso is a bit longer than yours, but that's a minor concern considering the designs of the tops. I think the pants would look perfect. Damn, it's a crime to cover your legs. I'd love to showcase them… maybe next time?" She started measuring Taemin all over and then signalled to the petite woman manning the makeup, "Hyuna, start with him," she instructed as she took out one of the pants from its hanger, "Go with the color scheme we had originally planned with Zhan, but I want you to subtly emphasize his cat eyes and that dashing slit on his brow. God, how could your jawline look exactly the same as Zhan’s? It's so weird."

Choi Sooyoung was a whirlwind, and Kibum found his admiration for the woman's boundless energy dispelling some of his nervousness. He sat immobile on his chair, trying to keep as still as possible as the makeup artist deftly and quickly applied some foundation on his skin. 

"Wait, I don't know your names."

"He's Kim Kibum. I'm Lee Taemin." 

"Okay, Taemin-sshi, can you change into these first? Kibum-sshi, please stand up for a moment, I can't see your waist. Can you hold up your shirt a bit? Ah, just as I thought. Sora, take in Zhan's pants a couple of inches. Then get Wooyoung's spare pair—Yibo's shoes are too large for Taemin-sshi." Looking around, she again called out in a loud voice, "Soon-ah, come here and help me once you're done there."

Kibum's make up did not take as long as he expected, and soon Sooyoung was handing him another ensemble from the rack. He headed toward another collapsible tent to change.

Once Kibum came out of the changing room, Sooyoung let out a whistle. "Damn." 

Minho had wandered over, dressed in his own ensemble and looking even more devastating than he did earlier. Kibum couldn't help but feel gratified at the approval in the man's eyes as he surveyed him from head to toe. Kibum's eyes slid from the taller man and started looking around for Taemin. 

He was seated at the table with the makeup artist earlier. From what Kibum could see from his back, he was wearing an all-white ensemble—which was at that moment covered by a sheet to protect it from stray flecks, and his longish hair was disheveled and parted off-center. 

Kibum looked down at his own ensemble: slim black pants and a half-black, half-red, black-collared double-breasted blazer that closed with, instead of buttons, a flowing sash made of iridescent black chiffon that cut strikingly across the waistline against the red half. The coat did not allow for an undershirt. 

Sooyoung walked over and rattled off final instructions for altering Kibum's other two ensembles. Then, she looked at Hyuna, who gave her a thumbs up, then asked Taemin to come and stand beside Kibum. 

"God, look at you two! I wanted to see the final pieces first, because you know, I need maximum firepower at the end. I think the adjustments worked pretty well, and it's a good thing we have your shoe sizes available…" 

Kibum really, really liked the woman, but his mind blocked off her chatter in an attempt to process what he was seeing. Taemin's white ensemble was a perfect complement to his, with the ice blue sash being the focal point, but his pants were flowy instead of fitted like his. The all-over effect was ethereal...until you looked at his face. 

Taemin looked like a devil who was out to snatch souls. 

***

"Excuse me?" Both Taemin and Kibum, now dressed in their first sets, stared at Sooyoung like she had suddenly grown horns as the assistants hovered over them making final adjustments here and there. Ten minutes before the start.

"I'm really sorry to put the pressure on you, but that's the finale. Once you reach the chandelier, I want you to kiss each other until your lipsticks get smeared around your mouths. Marriage between an angel and a devil." She shivered. "I can't wait!"

Kibum felt heat creep up to his face. It was difficult to look at Taemin earlier, but now he couldn't look at him at all. 

"Sooyoung-sshi, I'm so sorry, but can we do without the kiss?" Kibum's head snapped up to look at Taemin. Taemin's mouth was tight, and he was looking at the woman with a determined glint in his eyes. 

His mind went back to that non-kiss during the Pepero game last week, which dwelled in Kibum’s mind long after it happened. Taemin seemed enthusiastic enough to get all up in his face back then. 

_ Ah. He doesn't want to actually kiss me _ . 

Sooyoung looked searchingly at Taemin, then at Kibum, and said after a moment, "I was hoping to still have that element because I thought it wasn't going to be an issue—you are a couple, after all. It was planned with the original models' agreement, as they were dating themselves. But I respect your wishes—I'll have Minho and his partner Irene kiss at the end, then." She shot Kibum a calculating look, and then said, "I'm wondering if I should switch up your sequence with Minho at the end… but I think it will still be interesting to have you at the end and just do something that vaguely implies intimacy… Ah. Taemin-sshi, just stroke down from Kibum-sshi's jaw and rest your hand against his neck as you both look out toward the audience. I think that would suffice."

"We're really sorry for the inconvenience, Sooyoung-sshi," Kibum said. 

Sooyoung cheerfully waved it away. "No, I'm the one who's sorry, I got carried away. Believe me, I am more than content. You two look so beautiful in my clothes, it's crazy. I can't imagine how much more if those were actually tailored to fit you…Anyway, I'll see you two later, okay?"

"Thanks, Sooyoung-sshi." They exchanged bows, and the woman walked off to see to other last-minute details. They took their positions behind Minho and his partner—Irene, Sooyoung-sshi said.

"Don't be nervous, just walk at the same pace as the others and in time with the music. Remember: one round of solos, then one round of pairs. For the first two ensembles, we walk the entire runway in one go… for the finale, we walk as pairs then pause under the chandelier, do our thing, then walk back. Got it?"

"Got it," Kibum replied, flashing him a thumbs up. Minho smiled at him, nodded at Taemin, and prepared himself for his signal. 

Kibum and Taemin had yet to speak to each other for the last hour. 

Taemin spoke up first. "I'm really sorry for dragging us into this, hyung." 

Kibum looked up at Taemin and read the worry in his eyes. He smiled at him and said in a playful tone, "Are you kidding? You know I love playing dress-up. This is a dream come true." 

Taemin looked at him without a word for several breaths, as if seeking reassurance, and then his glossed lips started to curve up. "This suits you, you know. The clothes. The makeup. The limelight."

Kibum's eyes widened, and he gestured vaguely down Taemin's dove-gray suited body. "What are you talking about? Me? Look at you! I can't even…"

"Everyone! Places!"

Before he could think about his action, Kibum grabbed Taemin's hand and squeezed it. Taemin pressed back. 

***

"Hyung, would you like to make things more interesting?"

Still high from the rush of the first and second sets, Kibum turned his beaming face toward Taemin as two of the assistants rushed over them to help them change into the last set. In wordless agreement, they had decided after the first round to set modesty aside and just change by the table and not inside the collapsible tents, as everyone else was doing it. It saved a considerable amount of time, after all. 

He looked away as Taemin started unbuttoning his dress shirt.

_ Again? _

"It might get us in trouble with Sooyoung-sshi. Behave."

"No, it won't, I promise." His smoke-shaded eyes looked unreadable, but the mischievous glint in them was unmistakable.

Kibum must admit, Taemin's ideas were pretty fun, but usually in retrospect. During the time, the fun was usually cloaked by the adrenaline caused by the idea of majorly screwing up. Accompanied by heart pounding in his throat, blood rush to the head, and all that jazz.

But tonight, the adrenaline rush felt rather nice. Exhilarating, even. And he had Taemin to thank for it.

Kibum decided right then and there to, again, against his judgment, trust Taemin."Fine. What should I do?"

"Nothing. Just go with what I’ll do later."

"Lee Taemin, I swear to God…"

"Don't worry, Kibum-hyung. Just leave it all to me."

They each walked out for their solo rounds without incident. As they waited their turns, they listened to the audience's collective gasps as the other couples walked ahead of them (the cheers for the two women, Seulgi and Joy, were particularly loud). Then, there was Minho and Irene, walking arm and arm before them. 

Kibum crooked his arm and motioned for Taemin to place his hand on it. The other man shook his head.

"No, let's just walk like usual, side by side. No contact, but close."

Funny how Kibum's mind read a deeper meaning into that.

"Okay." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. 

"Trust me."

The deafening roar told them that the pair before them must have already kissed. Kibum and Taemin braced themselves, and then walked forward. 

The chandelier was looming fast. Kibum was wondering what Taemin would be doing this time—

Suddenly, he felt hands bracketing his face gently but firmly, forcing him to bend down his head, and plush lips brushed ever so gently against his forehead. In the next moment, his eyes flew up to meet a burning stare as an arm slipped around his waist in a seemingly choreographed motion and pulled him close. A hand pressed hard against his jaw, and then a thumb passed harshly across his slightly parted mouth, smearing his lip color down his chin as his hand slid down to cup the side of his neck in a gentle caress. 

Choking back a moan, Kibum unconsciously tipped his head back as his eyes fluttered closed. 

He didn't even know how they made it backstage. 

"Well?" Taemin whispered conspiratorially.

Kibum wanted nothing more than to drag him off somewhere and wipe away that mischievous smirk off his pouty mouth with his own.

"Taemin-sshi! That improv was absolutely brilliant!" Sooyoung yelled from across the room, and the other models laughed and clapped their hands as they took their places for the final walk. With a laugh, Taemin bowed to everyone with a flourish. 

Kibum plastered on a smile as an assistant hurried forward to dab at the mess on his chin.  _ It was to make stuff interesting, Kibum, remember?  _

_ *** _

Sooyoung invited them to a late dinner with the rest of the models at a restaurant close to the hotel. Kibum took one look at Taemin and declined for the both of them.

"You've seen how hectic everything was earlier, but I really wanted to have a nice chat with the two of you," Sooyoung said with a pout as she handed Kibum and Taemin an envelope each. "Minho mentioned earlier that you're not really models, but really, thank you for the marvelous work you did of saving my ass on such a short notice."

In spite of his exhaustion, Kibum found himself smiling at the woman's charming lack of filter. Really, he'd love to become friends with Choi Sooyoung. 

Taemin said his thanks with a smile, but Kibum could tell that his battery was almost gone, so he wasn't expecting the younger man to speak much. 

Kibum diplomatically said, "We just hope that we didn't ruin your show, Sooyoung-sshi."

"What are you talking about? That ending was mind-blowing! I think it was even hotter than if you had actually made out. I can't believe Minho was lucky enough to find the two of you to rescue me." 

Kibum ran a hand through his hair and laughed a bit awkwardly. "Actually, we're just friends. We're doing this as a favor for common friends."

Sooyoung's mouth formed an "Oh" of surprise. Her glance also managed to catch Taemin's hand as it clutched at Kibum's sleeve. "That sounds like a story! Please, we have to meet again so you could tell me all about it. Your IG? I'll add you." She reached out her phone.

Kibum inputted his username, mind still trying to wrap around the fact that a blue-check account had asked to add him on IG.

Sooyoung turned toward Taemin. "What about you, Taemin-sshi?"

Taemin shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have IG, Sooyoung-sshi."

After returning the phone, Kibum procured a card from his satchel. "Here, Sooyoung-sshi."

With a delighted smile, Sooyoung accepted the card with a graceful turn of the wrist. "Wait. Kang & Young? I do business with your firm!" 

"I am aware." 

"Let's talk about that, too! But seriously, what am I doing, keeping you both when you must be so exhausted. I will call you, Kibum-sshi. Let's all have dinner next week. Ah, Minho, you're finally here."

"Noona, everyone's waiting." Minho, now dressed in casual clothes, walked up to Sooyoung's side “Also, here's a little something from Forever Young for the two of you as a thank you gift." He held out a The Shilla paper bag. 

"Ah, you didn't have to…" but Minho had already pressed it into his hand. Kibum mumbled his thanks.

"Let's go, Minho-yah. Goodbye, Kibum-sshi, Taemin-sshi. Expect my call soon!" Sooyoung waved and walked away. 

Minho bowed toward them and flashed them a warm smile. “It was nice meeting both of you.” With that, they parted ways at the hotel lobby. 

Kibum watched Taemin from the corner of his eye as they walked toward the car. He had seldom seen the younger man so quiet. 

“Taemin-ah, I’m starving. Let’s have dinner.”

“Ok.”

“Give me the keys.”

“But...”

“No, it's either I drive us to dinner, Lee Taemin, or I can book a temp driver. Your pick.”

It was a silent drive to their favorite fried chicken place on the ground floor of one of those high-rise condominium buildings. Taemin just sat there, looking out the window. More worrying still was the fact that he didn’t even peek at the contents of the paper bag. When Kibum parked the car, he got off without a word and entered the 24-hour establishment. 

Kibum asked for their usual order, a large bottle of cider, and a bottle of beer each for the two of them. Taemin nibbled on the pickled radish absently until their half-half order was placed on their table.

Taemin still didn’t say anything as they dug into the food.

Okay, Kibum knew that Taemin’s oddly melancholy mood couldn’t have been attributed to not having eaten anything for hours (although he was kind of hoping that it was). Since afternoon, he had been grappling with an agony of confusion—as well as a slew of other emotions that he dared not name at the moment—and he wanted nothing more than to go home and either just sleep it off to put off thinking about it until tomorrow or toss and turn in bed sleeplessly marinating in the thoughts he wanted to avoid. 

He really wasn’t in any position to process someone else’s burden when he himself was feeling so unhinged, yet there he was, trying to do exactly that.

Kibum took a gulp of beer and “Okay, Lee Taemin. Out with it.”

Taemin looked up at him, genuine surprise in his eyes.    
  
“Huh? Out with what?”

“With what had you all morose the entire evening. You do realize you haven’t spoken anything but ‘Out with what?’ in the last half an hour?”

“Ah.” Kibum waited for him to say nothing more, but Taemin didn’t appear inclined to say anything further.

“Nothing else? Just ‘Ah’?” Kibum was starting to get annoyed.

Taemin’s eyes flew up to meet his, and he looked...scared. 

_ What happened to the daredevil earlier? _

“Kibum-hyung, I…would you believe me if I said that nothing’s wrong, and that I was just hungry?”

Kibum stared at Taemin, but he wouldn’t meet his eyes. 

“I believe you,” he eventually replied in a gentler tone. It seemed like what he needed at that point, anyway.

Gratitude.

After a few minutes of significantly less tense silence between them, Kibum stood up as he looked at his new message. “I have to go. My cab’s here.”

“I’ll drive you...”

“No, just head up and rest.” Kibum walked toward the cashier and paid for their meal, saying to the woman, “Imo, don’t let that kid linger here for too long, ok?”

“Don’t worry, Kibum-ah, I’ll chase him out with a broom if I have to.”

“Gomo! You'd do that to your own nephew?” Taemin whined as his lips drew into a petulant pout.

“Shoo! Go up and sleep, Taemin-ah! My night-shift reliever will be here soon."

The two of them stepped out into the warm June night after Jinki's mother all but threatened them with bodily harm using her frying tongs after Taemin offered to clean up. The lights of the approaching cab illuminated Taemin’s drawn, painfully young face.

Kibum reached up and thumbed away a smudge of foundation on a patch of skin just underneath Taemin’s hair part.

“Don’t forget to wash off all that hair product. And pay attention to the remaining makeup on your hairline, or you might end up getting acne there.” 

Taemin looked at him wordlessly, and his hand slowly fell away from his face. 

The cab driver tooted his horn.

Kibum walked away and slid into the backseat of the cab, his mind trying to convince him that what he's doing was not escaping. 

***


	4. Third Saturday of That June

Saturday. After a long—albeit productive—week of meetings and phone calls and paperwork, it finally came. Kibum couldn’t be happier.

He woke up at 11 after late-night drinks with his colleagues the night before, which progressed to a round of competitive karaoke with another colleague and his direct superior (he won, of course). He managed to stagger through the door at around 3 am. 

After taking in some water and aspirin, he lazed in bed and vegetated for another half an hour. 

His Chinese takeout came at around 2 pm, at which point he had already seen 2.5 episodes of a Chinese costume drama that he had tuned into because he was just not feeling up to watching ambitious parents going at each other's throats. He felt like having something substantial instead of just tiny bites that never really filled one's stomach, so he went for tangsuyuk and jjajangmyeon instead of his usual chicken order. No chicken for now.

 _Damn. Can't they serve these things in smaller sizes?_ He thought irritably. His mind helpfully supplied how the amount of food was just enough for two. 

He ended up eating only about a quarter of the pork dish and less of the noodles. He looked down at the leftovers and decided to just repurpose them on the next day. 

_If only…_

_Nope._

He picked up a pint of gianduja ice cream from the e-Mart across the street and had no trouble finishing it. 

***

"Kim Kibum, what have you done to my baby?" Jonghyun's scandalized voice greeted him as soon as he double-tapped his wireless buds. 

"Hello to you, too, Jjong," he replied languidly as he took a sip of the pinot. Not bad. He reached out a wet hand to shut off the faucet. "How are your finals?"

"Brutal, but I think I'll live to see another semester. Seriously, though, you both looked hot in the clip. My Taeminnie's all grown up. Huhu."

Suddenly alert, Kibum sat up with a splash. "What are you talking about?" 

"I sent it to you on Kakao—"

"Talk to you later, Jjong," Kibum interrupted the man, cutting the call immediately. 

Kibum rose from the tub and strode dripping toward the sink where his phone was. He clicked on the Kakao Talk icon then on Jjong's new message. 

Fuck. It was worse than he thought. 

Beside him, Taemin stalked with a deliberate feline grace that was at odds with the airiness of his ensemble. His waist was clearly on display by the cinch of the sash. His lithe legs were emphasized instead of cloaked by his loose pants. Owing to his innate ability to catch the wind when he walked, the skirt-like clothing billowed behind him and flirted with Kibum's slim, dark-clad leg. 

By contrast, Kibum's black and red suit was sleek because of its slim lines and more flagrantly sexy in concept, but he looked oddly delicate in it. Beside Taemin's purposeful saunter, his gait was light, almost tentative. And while Taemin's coiled sensuality was as subtle as a roundhouse kick in the face, Kibum's was a thing that emanated from him—an eroticism that was made no less potent by the fact that it was more felt than seen. 

They looked like the perfect foils for each other. 

Kibum would process the aesthetics of their catwalk, but much, much later. At that very moment, however, nothing registered to him but Taemin's heavy stare, which proved to be detrimental to his pulse and breath. 

When Taemin stopped to frame his face, Kibum remembered exactly how it felt. He watched as Taemin's eyes slid closed as he brushed his lips tenderly against his forehead, and Kibum shivered as he clutched at the granite of his sink. 

Then the soft touch turned hard against his jaw, and Taemin's soft expression evaporated into a steely smoulder as he snaked an arm around Kibum, throwing his body into an arch, and dragged the thumb of his other hand harshly across Kibum's mouth. As his hand descended to cup that delicate neck in a deceptively soft caress, Taemin swiveled his head toward the audience, his face downright evil. 

The vermillion lip color looked obscene against Kibum’s pale skin. Kibum's bared throat was wanton in its surrender. Kibum’s face, nearly unpaintable in its confused lust. 

"Fuck," he breathed out reverently.

The word repeated itself in a litany in his head as he wiped the mirror and the sink clean a few minutes later. He didn't need this guilt on top of everything else, but there you go. 

***

Kibum resolved to be a bit more virtuous after the ice cream and his aborted soak (among other things), so he changed into a light tracksuit so he could run a few laps at the park near his apartment at dusk when the heat had somehow abated. But before he could head out the door, his phone started ringing again. 

Kibum immediately tapped his airpods and said, "I can explain, Jjong—"

"Kim Kibum—sshi?"

The female voice sounded familiar.

"Um, sorry. Yes, this is Kim Kibum. Who—"

"It's Choi Sooyoung."

 _Wow._ He really didn't expect her to follow through on that call. 

"Kibum-sshi, I know that this is on such short notice, but I was hoping that maybe you and Taemin-sshi are free for dinner tonight? It had been a long week, and I was thinking of just staying home, but then I thought that I really want to just hang out somewhere quiet with people I don't regularly see at work, and I'm tired of seeing just Minho all the time. You two came to mind. So, what do you think? Dinner with me and my brother?"

Kibum grinned in amusement at how the designer cheerfully bulldozed her way through the invitation.

"Sooyoung-sshi, I'd be glad to have dinner with you. I'll see if Taemin's free."

"Great! I'll send you the location. See you!"

Kibum ended the call with a smile, which faded when he thought of what he should do next. 

He could always text, but Lord knew Taemin took forever to reply. 

_So, should you call Taemin and ask whether he's free or pretend to call Taemin and just tell Sooyoung that he's not?_ After all, he could be out with Jongin and their group or busy with something else. Or he could be totally free tonight. 

Whatever Taemin's answer would be, Kibum dreaded it. 

He glanced at his phone for the time and the pinned location Choi Sooyoung had sent. He knew that place—it was actually only a few blocks away from where he lived. It wasn't a swanky restaurant, more like a hole-in-the-wall establishment behind a large corporate building that could only fit five tables inside. The fresh seafood they offered, however, was some of the best to be had in the Cheongdam area. Maybe it wasn't such a stretch for a celebrity like her to know about it. 

_Just get it done and over with, Kibum._

On the 4th ring, Taemin picked up his call.

“Hello, hyung,” Taemin’s voice sounded pleasant enough, if not as bubbly as usual. 

“Taemin-ah, where are you?”

“I’m outside. Is there anything wrong?” Worry bled into his voice.

“No, nothing like that… So, you’re not free for dinner?”

“Tonight? Sorry, I can’t, hyung.”

Kibum’s grip on the phone tightened. “Ah, I see. Talk to you later, then."

“I'm sorry, hyung.”

So. There’s that. 

An hour later, he pushed open the door beside the water tanks filled with different fish, shrimp, abalone, conches, and other shellfish and was greeted by the owner. 

"Good evening, sir, I'm afraid—"

"Ahjumma, it's okay, he's with us!"

His eyes land on the sight of the Choi siblings seated side by side on one of the tables. The rest of the tables were unusually empty for a Saturday night.

_Celebrity perks are a thing._

"Kibum-sshi! You made it!" Sooyoung, casually elegant in a sleeveless black chiffon top and jeans, loudly exclaimed. Minho, who was unnervingly good-looking as ever in a plain black T-shirt and jeans, stood up and bowed toward him. Kibum bowed back as Sooyoung said, "It's too bad Taemin-sshi's unavailable, but I hope you'd still have fun with us."

Kibum was unsure of how to act at first, but Sooyoung was quick to put him at ease. Minho, whom Kibum had thought would be aloof at first, was loud. Kibum spent the next two hours eating delicious flatfish sashimi and maeuntang, drinking soju, and laughing merrily with his companions, who seemed more like a gag duo than siblings. At least that took Kibum's mind off things…

…until Sooyoung started ribbing Minho about his kiss with Irene and pestering him whether it had been repeated since. 

Minho, whose face flushed with drink and/or embarrassment, whined, "Noona, stop it. It's not like that—she's just a friend."

Sooyoung rolled her eyes and whispered loudly to Kibum, "Believe me, their denials have gotten really old. They're always attached at the hip, hanging out with each other when they're both free, they're not even dating other people even though they're both gorgeous and unattached."

Air quotes.

Kibum offered tentatively, "Well, maybe they don't want to be in a relationship and they're happy with what they have right now? I mean—"

Sooyoung swiveled her head to look at Minho. "And are you, dear brother?"

Minho didn't answer. 

"What about you, Kibum-ah?" The familiar address had easily slipped in some time throughout the course of the evening. "Are you happy with your friendship with Taemin-sshi?" 

Kibum smiled ruefully down at his drink, evading Sooyoung's searching stare. "That kid can be a handful most of the time, but he's a good one. We've been friends for a really long time, and I wouldn't want to lose him for anything."

"You know, I didn't believe it at first when Noona told me that you weren't a couple," Minho commented after taking a sip of water. "I mean, have you seen your finale? I've seen the monitor raw videos. Everybody must have felt a bit singed around the edges after seeing that." 

Kibum hoped that the two in front of him would attribute his color to the alcohol. 

"Taemin gets… a lot of crazy ideas," he explained weakly. 

"It wasn't just that," Sooyoung said thoughtfully, her chin resting on her hands. "I know I was running around like a headless chicken preshow, but I kept looking at you two every once in a while. You guys don't seem like the touchy-feely type, but he's just always oriented toward you—like he's always seeking you out. While you… you get this look in your eye when you look at him. I can't even explain it."

"You look at him like he's yours. It's not even in a jealous, possessive sense, like it just is." Minho supplied quietly. "And you two move like you've been doing a tandem choreography long enough that you don't have to think about it anymore. It's fascinating to watch, actually." 

Kibum froze in the act of throwing back a shot. _He does that? I do what?_

He put down the full shotglass on the table and laughed lightly, as if he wasn't hearing his heartbeat thundering in his ears. "Well, we didn't know anybody else at that time, so wasn't it just natural for us to seek each other out under the circumstances? Also, we've known each other for a really long time." _Yep. That should explain it._

Sooyoung appeared unconvinced, but she left it at that. 

Their conversation steered toward lighter topics after that, but Minho announced that he had an early start the next day so they had to regretfully call it a night. The siblings waved away Kibum's offer to pay his share, instead extracting a promise from him to treat them to dinner next time and to bring Taemin with him then. Sooyoung also offered to hold an appointment for Jjong and Jinki once they're both available. 

They walked toward a commercial building a block away where the Chois had parked their car. The two of them asked if they could drop Kibum off on the way, but Kibum demurred, saying that he'd like to walk off the slight buzz. 

Minho was walking a bit ahead, trying to check where the temp driver was, while the two of them chatted some more. After seeing the sign of a chain-store coffee house ahead, Kibum told Sooyoung that he's getting some iced green tea (it was too late into the night for an iced americano, anyway) for his walk home. 

"Let's go! I'm suddenly craving something sweet."

He happened to glance through one of the glass windows and did a double take. 

Taemin was seated at one of the tall tables beside someone whom he was pretty sure was not part of Taemin's crew. From what Kibum could see, the platinum blond man was about Taemin's height, slender, and so good-looking that, like Taemin, he could pass for an idol. The two sat with their heads quite close, watching something on an iPad with complete absorption. Taemin was speaking with that oddly lopsided pout he got when he’s animated about the subject, and he was looking with sparkling eyes at his companion. 

All of a sudden, the balmy evening felt bitterly cold against his skin.

_Oh._

Kibum suddenly felt a hand on his arm. "Kibum-ah." He turned his head, and his eyes met Sooyoung's concerned gaze. 

He smiled reassuringly down—or so he hoped—at Sooyoung. "I'm okay."

Sooyoung glanced at the pair, and then back up at Kibum. "Talk to him. I'm sure there's an explanation—"

He shook his head. "It's not my place, noona."

Without another word, he bowed to Sooyoung and walked away. 

***


	5. Fourth Saturday of That June

For the first time in a really long time (if not ever), Kibum was not looking forward to the end of the workweek.

He went to work early in the morning, drafted and filed a lot of applications, had meetings with prospective clients, processed other paperwork, and went home at night ready to keel over. His weekly routine consumed enough of his mind and focus to keep him from thinking of anything else, with the tedium broken enough by random outings with different people—lunch with Kwon Boah and Jung Yunho on Monday, dinner with several friends from university on Wednesday, some after-dinner wine with the Chois on Thursday, a birthday celebration for the firm's managing director on Friday. He had even stumbled upon Jjong during one of his midday coffee runs early in the week. 

All in all, it seemed like he had spent time with everyone… except for the one he wanted to see. 

When Saturday came, he cleaned house as per usual, did laundry, watched some more of those two gay wizards— _There's no way these two are just friends_ —and cooked some coq au vin and spaghetti aglio e olio to go with it, for a change. 

To be fair, the day was spent rather productively, but it still felt anti-climactic—which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was a far cry from his usual reverence for the day as the highlight of his week. 

He was kind of hoping that someone would hijack his day again— _Yeah, that's never gonna happen._

Sooyoung invited him to a launch event at some club in Itaewon, but Kibum begged off on the pretext of feeling under the weather (well, he technically didn't lie so…).

As soon as the sky started turning dark, he slipped on a tracksuit and left the apartment to run laps around the park. He lost track of time and might have overdone the running a bit, so he killed some time sitting on one of the benches to catch his breath and watching people enjoy the cool summer night. 

It was pretty late when he headed back to his building. He picked up some Lay’s, string cheese, and lemon frozen custard at e-Mart, and then ran into Taemin by his building’s entrance. 

“Hyung! You were out?” Taemin said as a greeting. He looked like he was trying to read an idiot board beside the actual camera instead of meeting his eyes. 

“Taemin-ah. It’s pretty late. What’s up?” Kibum tried to say casually around the lump in his throat.

“Ah. I’ve been meaning to give you something.”

“Okay. Have you had dinner?”

Taemin shook his head.

_No weekend date?_

They rode the elevator to Kibum’s floor in complete silence. Kibum felt self-conscious about his unkempt appearance and his sweaty tracksuit and glared in disgruntlement at Taemin’s charcoal gray v-neck shirt that bared his collarbones. His light floral-musk cologne filled the cramped space of the elevator. Hm. _That scent must be concentrated around the area of his collarbones… and neck… mmmm...Shut up, Kibum!_

He wished that the ride would end sooner.

Kibum let them into the apartment and went straight into the kitchen to stow away the contents of his plastic bag. “Sit. I’ll just heat these up so you can eat while I take a shower.”

“No, you go ahead, hyung, just tell me for how long.”

Kibum turned the induction cooker on low to heat up the chicken stew. “Just take out the pasta from the fridge and nuke it for half a minute. I’ll be out in five.”

“Take your time, Kibum-hyung. I’ll be right here.”

Kibum hurried to the bathroom and took a quick shower. His skin was prickly all over, and he felt jittery like he hadn’t for a long time. 

He slipped on loose gray track pants and a thin black and white striped shirt and had to content himself with some moisturizer on his face. Then, before he could change his mind, he spritzed a literal drop of his freakishly expensive date-night niche perfume onto his wrist and dabbed it onto the other wrist and behind his ears. _Way to be subtle, Kim Kibum. He doesn't like you like that, remember?_

He headed out and found that Taemin had laid out the food on the table, as well as two place settings and the bottle of the unfinished pinot. He also had a small fig-scented candle burning on a shallow dish.

If not for the lack of flowers, the setup almost looked like a dinner date.

 _Shut up, Kibum!_ But really, who could blame him?

He tried to go for casual. “Wow. Nothing got burned unintentionally. Bravo." He seated himself across Taemin. "That candle brand’s expensive. Where did you get it?”

“Shilla gift pack that the Chois gave that night. It was left in my car, and I never got around to bringing it here. I hope you don’t mind that I lit one of them.”

”No, no, it’s perfect, actually. What else is in there?”

He held out the paper bag to Kibum, who took it and peered inside. “Another candle, a bath set. You’re the one who likes these things, so I was thinking of just leaving them here. And there’s an envelope there. I didn’t want to open it without you.” 

Kibum looked up at him, and then started opening the envelope. He stared down at the contents. 

“What is that?” Taemin asked curiously.

“That” was a voucher for an overnight stay at The Shilla Seoul with complimentary spa passes and buffet dinner at The Parkview for two, with a note attached written in an elegant but oddly illegible scrawl. 

“Um. Those Chois, really,” he said in a mock-annoyed tone, desperately trying to tamp down the color threatening to climb up his face.

“What does it say,” Taemin asks with an odd note in his voice as he reached out a hand to pull the cardstock toward him. He scanned the handwritten note.

“But now… he already knows that we’re not together, right?”

Kibum couldn’t look him in the eye. “Yeah. Sooyoung-noona told him.”

“Ah.” 

Silence.

Kibum said with an enthusiasm he didn't feel, "Hey, we didn't get the Gapyeong stay, but now you have a gift for those two! Besides, it's not like we could split the voucher or use it..." _Crap._

No response. The tense quiet was starting to grate on Kibum's frayed nerves.

Finally, he heard Taemin heave a huge sigh, and then— 

“Hyung. I want to explain my behavior that night of the hotel event.”

Kibum raised his head from his fascinated study of the whorls of the maple wood table. _Here it is._

“First of all...I want to apologize.”

Recalling certain moments of "weakness" in the past two weeks, Kibum thought, _Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?_

“I wanted to tell you that night, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry. Hyung, I- I lied to you.”

Kibum wanted to know what he wanted to say, but not when the cost of knowing was seeing Taemin as tortured as he looked at that moment. He couldn’t—would not pay that price, not when it hurt him, too.

He tried to say lightly, “Come on, Taem, I know you're a little shit, and that you tell white lies sometimes, but they never cause anyone any harm. It's okay, Taemin-ah—

"But it's not okay—not this time. Not when it matters."

Suddenly, Kibum was very afraid of what he’s going to say.

"Look. I know you've always seen me as your kid brother, and I will always be grateful that you care for me. But for me… you probably would have run for the hills if you had any clue about what I feel for you, and I was content to just live with it, you know? Then, that first Saturday happened… I really am sorry for interrupting the one day you have for yourself, but I had no choice then because I was desperate… Then, I had such a lovely time with you and I kept on wishing the entire time and afterwards that I didn't have to pretend that you were mine." 

That knocked the wind right out of his lungs. 

Taemin’s eyes were wide, clear, and brutally, painfully honest. 

Then he continued, hiding behind the curtain of his hair. "That day, I felt like I had a chance, so I became too greedy. I stole your Saturday again and dragged you to Shilla. I swear, I came this close to buying the earrings so that I could offer the half to you when the right time came, but then that tall frog had to interrupt.”

He dragged his hand agitatedly through his dark hair. "I know you have a type, and yet I've never met anyone you've dated who looked so close to the ideal man you described. Oh, my God, you have no idea how panicked I was." He giggled with a wet sniff, but the note of resignation was stark in his voice. "There's the incarnation of your Prince Charming standing right in front of you, and he seemed so interested in you. I couldn't compete with that."

"What type? That didn't even occur to me...Also, what are you talking about...Why would you even want to compete? I thought... you didn't want to kiss me then—"

His laugh was a sharp little thing dripping with bitter self-mockery. "Oh, you have no idea how badly I wanted to, and I knew you would have let me. God, you should have seen your face—"

—Kibum had—

"—but I had been lying to you all along, and it felt wrong. I couldn't. I was going to come clean to you, but then I found out on Insta that you've been hanging out with that tall frog—"

"How? You have Instagram?"

"Small L, small M, five underscores, L-T-M. I am Lee Taemin. It's new. Anyway, you've started hanging out together, and I thought I had missed my chance."

"But that platinum blond man…"

"Who? I don't know any—ah. Taeyong-sshi. The wedding planner. Jonghyun-hyung and I met up with him once last weekend after hyung's exam. What does he have to do with this?”

Kibum took a deep, sustaining breath. “Why are you here, Taemin-ah?” he ventured in a gentle voice.

Taemin's breath shuddered through his body, and for a moment, Kibum thought that he wasn't going to reply. Then...

“I miss you, hyung. And not that I’m expecting anything in return, and you can be sure that I will definitely do something about it if you find that you can’t accept my feelings for you, but we’re not going to let you rejecting me ruin our friendship, right? I mean, you managed to stay friends with Jinki-hyung after breaking up—”

“Taemin-ah—”

“—And I will deal with it, but I may have to go MIA for a while after that, so I’m sorry in advance and please understand—”

“Taemin-ah!”

“—And I guess I could get used to that frog eventually—”

Exasperated, Kibum stalked over to his side, bent over to cup Taemin’s face between his hands, and laid his cupid’s bow-shaped lips over Taemin’s pillowy ones.

After about a minute of blessed silence, Taemin owlishly blinked his wet eyes up at Kibum and asked blankly, “Kibum-hyung… what was that?”

“I don’t know… giver’s perk?”

Large, limpid eyes searched shimmering cat-like ones for an eternal heartbeat. Then, with Taemin’s understanding came a slow, brilliant smile that spread like sunrise dawning on his face. He stood up and grabbed Kibum by the waist and tugged him forward against his body as Kibum’s upturned lips met his. 


	6. Fifth Sunday <technically> of That June

“The food’s gone cold.”

“I don’t care. God, you smell good."

"I should call mom and tell her I can't do Sunday lunch tomorrow."

"Are you sure? I mean, you've never skipped Sunday lunch at your parents’. What if they think something serious had happened or—"

_Something happened, all right..._

Relative silence.

"So… the old men already hired a wedding planner from the start?"

"I'm so sorry. The two of them know how totally useless I am at organizing stuff."

"The tickets?" 

"100% theirs at first. Jinki-hyung booked them way before they decided to go with a planner."

"Ah."

"...are you mad?"

"They should have asked me from the start, then."

"Umm…Jinki-hyung finally got sick of me pining over his ex during our calls so he and Jonghyunie-hyung told me I needed the excuse...?"

A loud cackle. "That old man... and here I thought he was being petty over our breakup in high school. Also, the damsel in distress approach was the best they could come up with?"

"Got me you, didn’t it? And excuse you, hyung, I'm a man!"

"Ok. Shut up and kiss me, dude."

 _Taemin's right. This couch really is comfortable,_ Kibum thought absently as Taemin pressed him deeper into the cushions.

_Wait. At first—_

”You paid for Shilla?!?"

끝

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Finally, it's over. 
> 
> This was meant to be a 4k-word fic. Truth be told, I was afraid it wasn't even going to reach that. Then this happened. All 14,7++ words of it. This is officially the longest fic I have ever written.
> 
> I hope that you have enjoyed reading this. I did my best to follow the prompt (not too successful there, I may have taken way too many liberties with it again. I'm so sorry, prompter.)
> 
> My sincerest thanks to my cheerleaders Fritzie, Michel, Liz, and Hanna.


End file.
